Pakistan Cricket Team won the hearts of millions of cricketing faithful with wonderful performances in both red-ball and white-ball cricket throughout the year. Pakistan was one of the best-performing teams in world cricket throughout 2021 and broke multiple records along the way. The team performed exceptionally in Test cricket and T20I cricket but unfortunately only played six ODI matches throughout the calendar year.
Pakistan held home series against the likes of South Africa and West Indies while touring various countries including England, West Indies, South Africa, Zimbabwe, and Bangladesh. The Men in Green also took part in the 2021 T20 World Cup and exceeded the expectations of the fans by blowing away the opposition every step of the way before their disappointing loss in the semi-final against eventual champions, Australia.
Pakistan’s all-format captain, Babar Azam, wicket-keeper batter, Mohammad Rizwan, the fiery left-arm pacer, Shaheen Afridi, ace right-arm pacer, Hasan Ali, gritty middle-order batter, Fawad Alam and solid opening batter, Abid Ali were some of the star performers in all three formats in the year while Pakistan also had solid contributions from all participating team members which aided in their success throughout the calendar year.
Let’s have a look at all the achievements of the Pakistan Cricket Team in 2021:
Test Achievements
Pakistan had a magnificent year in Test cricket. They played a total of 9 matches, two at home against South Africa and seven away from home against opponents such as New Zealand, West Indies, Zimbabwe, and Bangladesh. Pakistan won 7 out of 9 Test matches in the calendar year, losing one match to New Zealand and one to West Indies in an otherwise exceptional year in Test cricket.
Pakistan whitewashed South Africa, Zimbabwe, and Bangladesh in the two-match Test series against each nation and one the second Test against West Indies to level the series 1-1. Overall, Pakistan’s win percentage of 77.77% was the highest in world cricket in the calendar year and the Green Shirts also had the joint-most wins, 7, alongside arch-rivals India in 2021.
Individually, Pakistan players had a formidable year as well. Pakistan’s star pace attack of Shaheen Afridi and Hasan Ali bamboozled their opposition on a number of occasions and finished with a total of 88 wickets in the year. Shaheen finished as the second-highest wicket-taker in the world with 47 wickets at an average of 17.06 in 9 matches while Hasan finished as the third-highest wicket-taker with 41 wickets at an average of 16.07 in 8 matches.
The fast bowling duo also broke into the top 10 Test bowler rankings with Shaheen achieving his career-best ranking of number three in the world. Shaheen became the first Pakistani bowler since Mohammad Abbas in 2018 to be ranked amongst the top 3 in the world.
Pakistan’s Test opener, Abid Ali also had a solid outing in the year. Abid finished as the fifth-highest run-scorer in Test cricket in 2021. He scored 695 runs at an average of 49.64 in 15 innings in the year. He scored two centuries, two half-centuries, and one double-century in a formidable year.
- Highest Win Percentage in Test cricket in 2021
- Won 7 out of 9 Tests this year
- Whitewashed South Africa, Zimbabwe, and Bangladesh
- Shaheen (47) and Hasan (41) took second and third-highest wickets respectively
- Shaheen ranked number 3 in the world
- Hasan ranked 10 in the world
- Abid Ali fifth-highest run-scorer in 2021
Limited-Overs Achievements
The Men in Green had an outstanding year in T20 cricket as they broke some major team and individual records throughout the year. The team also played six ODIs in the calendar year a three-match series against England in England and a three-match series against South Africa in South Africa. While they were whitewashed by England in the ODI series they did manage to win their second-ever series against the Proteas in the rainbow nation.
The team played a lot of T20 cricket in 2021. Green Shirts played a total of 29 matches in the calendar year which includes two three-match home series against South Africa and West Indies and five T20 series away from home against England, South Africa, Zimbabwe, Bangladesh, and West Indies. The team also played 6 matches in the 2021 T20 World Cup in UAE. Pakistan created history as they registered 20 wins in the format, the most by any team in a calendar year. They broke their own record of 17 wins in a year they set in 2018.
Pakistan had a fantastic run in the 2021 T20 World Cup as well. They set the tone of the tournament by defeating arch-rivals India by 10 wickets in their first match. This was Pakistan’s first victory over India in World Cup history and it was also Pakistan’s first 10 wicket victory and India’s first 10 wicket loss in a T20I. Pakistan’s opening duo of Mohammad Rizwan and Babar Azam went unbeaten in the match as they both put up a 152-run stand to win the match for Pakistan. Rizwan and Babar were irresistible throughout the year and they put on 6-century partnerships and four 150+ runs partnerships in the year, the most by any batting player in the history of T20I cricket.
Mohammad Rizwan was exceptional throughout the year and he broke the record for most runs in a calendar year in T20Is and T20s. Rizwan scored over 2,000 runs in T20s in 2021 and became the first player in the world to cross 2,000 run landmarks in T20 cricket in a year. Rizwan finished as the highest run-scorer in T20Is while Babar finished as the second-highest run-scorer in T20Is.
Pakistan’s all-format captain, Babar Azam continued his dominance with the bat in limited-overs cricket. The stylish batter piled on the runs in both T20Is and ODIs and became the first Pakistani batter to be ranked as the number one batter in the world in both formats simultaneously. He is currently ranked number one in ODIs and number three in T20Is. He is also the only batter to be ranked amongst the top 10 in all formats. Mohammad Rizwan joined him in T20Is and is ranked number four in the world.
This was the year of Mohammad Rizwan and Babar Azam. The duo also finished at the top of the leaderboard in numerous other departments. Rizwan took 22 catches as wicket-keeper in T20Is, the most by any keeper in the world while Babar took 16 catches as a fielder, again the most in the world.
Pakistan cricket team accumulated a total of 4,020 runs in T20Is, the most by any team in the calendar year. They struck 347 boundaries which are also the most in the world while they hit 147 sixes the joint-most in world cricket.
- 20 wins out of 29 T20I matches, most in the world.
- The first team to win 20 T20I matches in a calendar year.
- Whitewashed Bangladesh and West Indies in the T20 series.
- Won ODI series against South Africa in South Africa their second win in history.
- Beat India for the first time in World Cups.
- Registered 10-wicket victory over India, first 10-wicket win for Pakistan and first 10-wicket defeat for India in T20Is.
- Rizwan became the first batter to score 2,000 T20 runs in a year.
- Rizwan and Babar finished as highest and second-highest run-scorers in T20s and T20Is
- Rizwan and Babar put on 6-century partnerships in T20Is, most in the world.
- Rizwan and Babar put on 4 150+ run partnerships in T20Is, most in the world.
- Babar Azam ranked number one in ODIs and T20Is simultaneously.
- Rizwan took 22 catches in T20Is, most by a keeper in the world.
- Babar took 16 catches in T20Is, most by a fielder in the world.
- Pakistan scored a total of 4,020 runs in T20Is, most in the world
- Struck 347 boundaries, most in the world.
- Struck 147 sixes, joint-most in the world.
Awesome Yar !!!